Happy Spring Equinox

The Oasis is this great bar and restaurant down in Austin, Texas. It is on Lake Travis, and has over 16 decks or something. It has amazing views of the sunset. Each night when the sun actually sets, everyone stands up and applauds! I love that!  I was in shock the first time I went there. If you are ever in Austin, I highly recommend that you go out there. It is in the hill country outside of the city, although the city seems to be encroaching upon it, and it is a beautiful place to go and enjoy your friends and the sunsets.

Tonight, when the sun sets upon the horizon, go out and applaud to celebrate Spring and the long Journey that the Earth and the Sun have made together out of gratitude that they haven't given up on us.

Today at 6:07pm mountain time the Vernal Equinox takes place! I am so excited. This is a day of celebration, and this is a day that has been forgotten in our society replaced by other Holidays. I began bringing these celebrations back into my life several years ago, and I thought I would share a bit about what I do....

First of all, you have to have a feast! It is a very necessary thing. I make something that includes meat, bread, fruit and vegetables. Two of the dishes are sacred in my family and tradition, corn and wojapi. Corn is present during every sacred meal I cook. I grow it in my garden every year, I pray to it, talk to it, drum to it, ask Tonanzin to bless it, and listen to Corn Woman's words regarding prayers. I love to serve it in many ways. Spoon bread is always great, but very fattening...but it includes corn, green chiles and cheddar cheese. It is so moist, that you must spoon it out of the pan.

Wojapi is a Lakota dish that my family taught me to cook. Simply, it is berry soup. It is always served with fried bread, but I don't eat that as much anymore. Too fattening and bad for the heart...so I serve it with a multi-grain bread. What you do is get fresh, frozen or canned berries...we usually use blackberries or blueberries. Put them in a pot with water, the amount depends upon how much berries you put in there, and mix in some corn starch or flour to thicken it up. Put it on simmer until it slowly cooks down into a soup. You can put sugar in it, but I don't. I like the natural flavor of the berries with a bit of cinnamon in it. This is better than cake for me.

I am making shrimp enchiladas cooked in organic Chimayo Chile tonight with corn, a salad and wojapi. It will be a wonderful meal, and I hope wherever you guys are, you will have a great meal. I will take a pinch of everything that is served, and put it out on a plate with some tobacco and cornmeal as an offering to the Ancestral Spirits and my Medicine in thanksgiving for their presence in my life.

Spring is such an amazing time. We all come out of hibernation, and new growth is ready to sprout literally and figuratively. Maybe you made some New Year's Resolutions...gathered up your seeds for what you wanted to create. Well, now is the time to plant them, water them and begin amending the soil, so that they can grow. It is a time of life and death. In order for new life to sprout through the fertile soils of our Souls, we have to let things go...or transform them into something that is functional rather than dysfuctional...but no matter what you do, you will be letting go of the old...letting it fall away so that it can one day become fertile soil for new life and something new can grow into your life.

Today I decided to start making my soap for the upcoming season of show's and farmer's markets that I have been in for the past two years. My prayer as I created my soaps is that they will be a way for me to meet new people, share, talk, and bring something good to someone...maybe they will become reenchanted with the earth as they use my soaps. That is my prayer at least.

I am also going out to the studio to work on a painting with the prayer that this too will be a way for me to walk across a bridge and talk with people in ways that I normally don't...Art is a great way to knock down barriers, so you can get to the heart of the matter.

What I want to let go of so the above can transpire is this....Being in shows and farmer's markets...it's amazing how vulnerable I feel when I go to them. I am a shy person. Yes, Leo's can be introverted...I am one of them, and it is hard for me to start up conversations with people that I don't know. Each time I do a show, I am stepping way out of the box for me.  Last year I started showing my artwork for the first time, and that was such a huge risk for me. I think with the idea of the shows coming up, I am feeling vulnerable. Yesterday, I wrote a blog about the natural struggles I think everyone goes through. We are all struggling with our shoulds and our passions... I grew up in a very public life, and there were two versions of everything....genius and bad. Yesterday, I think as I faced another season, another time to be vulnerable with people I didn't know, a lot of fearful emotions came up. The great thing was I kept telling myself that they were just emotions, and that they did not identify me. Sometimes you just have to walk through it...go through all of the feelings, so you can let them go and move on...and that is what happened for me...and that is part of my Spring seed....to just let any former definitions about my work, go...just let it all go, so something new can come in. When I woke up today, I felt free and recharged. During my dreams I had made another choice...but I couldn't have gotten there if I wouldn't have faced all of my doubts and feelings, so I could once and for all be honest with myself. I accepted them rather than trying to avoid them, and that wasn't an easy pill to swallow. We spend so much time avoiding things that we are rarely honest with ourselves about what is really going on...so in order to strengthen my connection with the Earth, I needed to be honest with myself, I needed to share my doubts and fears, so I could make another choice and plant that seed on this day.

Somethings you can do during the Equinox...During the evenings, and I will do this until it is time for the plants to go dormant, I will take my drum outside and lightly drum it with my fingers....it is an ancient thing...to go out and drum to your plants...it helps them grow, it helps you develop a relationship with them...and it unifies you with the heartbeat of all. If you don't have a drum, clack two sticks or bones or utensils together. It really doesn't matter. The intention is what mattes.

Also, this is a great time to go betwixt and between Spring and Winter. If you don't know how to journey, use your imagination...focus upon your breath, relax your body, and then imagine yourself walking along a path...on one side is spring and on the other is winter. Explore that area...what comes up for you? Ask them to teach you about this space...are there any Spirit Helpers there to speak with? If so, make an offering and ask them to teach you about this Space. It is truly magical.

This is a painting of Dewey Beard. He was the last known surviver of the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Wounded Knee. He is my adopted mother's Grandfather on Pine Ridge. I was told many of the stories he told them. I won't repeat them here, because they are so sacred. However, I do remember Unci talking about how when he went to Congress to talk about Wounded Knee they basically didn't believe his story of what happened and said so. They sent him off to get x-rayed and lo and behold there were the bullets still in his body. He lost his family...his child and wife and mother among many others at Wounded Knee. While painting this, I asked him how he could go on? How could he have another family? Didn't it hurt? How hard was it to have white friends after all of this? The answer came to me in a dream the following night, "Sometimes Sasala, you just have to let things go. Just let them go."

So as Spring approaches with the Rocky Mountain winds, it is time to just let things go...